The basic structures, ideologies and systems of interaction for a web community, dcinside.com
Hyung Gyu Oh
1. What is dcinside.com ? Its origin and reason for existence.
: Long time ago in Korea, dcinside.com was launched as an Internet community with lots of bulletin boards to share information of digital cameras and laptops as well as to support trading those devices between individuals. As it mainly dealt with digital cameras, everyone who posts anything on any bulletin board should upload at least one digital image in their postings. Before long, dcinside added gallery category comprised of various kinds of topics. (Each topic has its own bulletin board.) Unlike previous bulletin boards, it made people talk about any topics they like.
However, as time passes by, the gallery became the icon of B-level online community that touches most of issues (including blaming celebrities without reasons), scandals, rumors and so on. As there have been neither strict rules nor regulations users have to follow in posting something, the community became bigger and bigger as well as more and more vulgar.
The No.1 rule that there must be one or more digital images in a posting is still alive and dcinside added new function that a default image is inserted in the posting for user’s convenience. This is because now dcinside is more famous or notorious for their gossip community than their digital camera/laptop information community.
The meaning of dcinside’s existence, I think, is that it’s an excellent outlet people can vent their suppressed desires. Here’s why.
2. Interactions, limits, exclusions, cultures and presumed/encouraged behaviors
: Users can post anything they want and what they haven’t been able to talk in the space outside of the Internet. For example, one man begins speaking ill of his boss because of something happened today. Then, others begin to reply talking about their bosses. That man and those who replied have come to share something in common and relieve their today’s stress in dcinside.com. Most of interaction in dcinside happens by the form of ‘reply.’
One of reason why ‘replying’ is so vibrant is that anyone can post and reply anonymously. They don’t have to register nor log-in. The other is that saying something using the familiar form (or speaking rudely including lots of slangs) is underlying rule or presumed behavior in dcinside. It softens each individuals ‘barrier in their mind’ and eases their tension, I think. Of course, this has the most negative functions at the same time. The Internet etiquette problem. People blame each other without any reasonable reason (they just want to blame someone) and blame celebrities. I know a lot of Korean celebrities hesitate to visit the TV show or celebrity category because it’s 100% certain that more than half of postings are criticizing and disparaging them.
3. Similarities and differences from the “real” world
: It depends on how we interpret “real.” I think this kind of Internet community is a part of or the other side of “real” world. It is neither virtual nor imaginary. People talk what they have been thinking and seen and sometimes upload what they’ve been actually taken in real world. The form of storage is less visible than paper and book but its accessibility and scalability is better than anything else.